Google Sweetens Publisher Deals

Google is sweetening the terms for a new subscriber tool aimed at getting the media onside as it looks to build digital subscriptions.

Publishers will keep 85-95 percent of revenue when readers first buy subscriptions via Google, up from 70 percent previously, according to insiders.

When consumers sign up for a subscription using “Subscribe with Google” at a publisher’s Web site, Google will keep five percent of the revenue. If they use the tool at the Google Play Store, that goes up to 15 percent.

Google also said it will dole out $300 million to support digital journalism globally over the next three years.